3 dead, 33 injured in water tank explosion

THREE people, including a one-year old baby girl, died while 33 were injured when a pressurized steel water tank of the San Jose Del Monte City Water District exploded at dawn on Friday.

City Information Office chief Ronald Soriano said up to 20 households were destroyed and some were washed out by water that exploded from the tank at 3:30 in the morning.

DEATH CAME AT DAWN A policeman inspects a house crumpled by the weight of the water tank in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.PHOTO BY RUY MARTINEZ

The tank, at Kelsey Hills in Barangay Muzon, carried 2,000 cubic meters of water and catered to some villages.
Soriano said rescue and retrieval operations were immediately conducted by the city government and the Bulacan Risk Reduction Management Office.

The fatalities were identified as Jimmy Garcia, 50, a police aide; Elaine Chamson; and the one-year-old Jaina Espina.